As medical science is well developed, medical services and hygiene are enhanced, and the world's average fertility rate is dropped gradually, our health condition and average life expectancy are improved significantly, and thus our population tends to be an aging population. In the aging population, related issues of medical services and social welfares for aging and chronic diseases arise. To cope with this trend and satisfy the patient requirement for a healthcare service at home, the market demand of healthcare and remote homecare for elderly people and patients (hereinafter referred to as “care receivers”) becomes increasingly higher.
In recent years, information technology keeps advancing, the applications of remote homecare and medical service become more diversified, and many developed countries aggressively conduct research and promotions on remote homecare and medical service to solve the problems caused by the elderly population. These activities not only help medical institutes including hospitals or clinics to achieve the purposes of sharing resources and saving costs, but also effectively promote homecare and medical services to remote districts with insufficient medical resources.
In general, the main function of the so-called “remote homecare” or “remote medical service” is to assist monitoring the health condition of a care receiver by obtaining and analyzing the care receiver's physiological parameters, and provide medical services and treatments at the most appropriate time. Remote homecare or remote medical service connects a care receiver and a family member, or a care receiver and a doctor at two different places and transmits information such as the care receiver's physiological parameters (including blood pressure, heartbeat or blood sugar level) to a family member or a doctor through the Internet or telephone network technology, so as to determine the care receiver's current conditions to provide timely homecare or medical service when the care receiver is unwell or in a critical condition.
However, remote homecare is provided to notice the care receiver's family member(s) or doctor via Internet or telephone technologies only after the care receiver's physiological parameters indicate an abnormal physiological condition. Although the care receiver's family member(s) or doctor can obtain the information of the care receiver's physiological conditions from the physiological parameters, they cannot know about the information on the care receiver's activity behaviors occurred before the abnormal physiological condition actually occurs from the physiological parameters, and the activity behaviors are usually important for a doctor's diagnosis. For example, a care receiver becomes unconscious after the abnormal physiological condition occurs, and the care receiver walks clumsily at home and hits his/her head and finally passes out on the floor. In another example, a care receiver has an external contusion or bone fracture after the care receiver passes out in a walk. However, remote homecare only can send the physiological parameters related to the abnormal physiological conditions to a doctor, but the care receiver's activity behavior including a hit on his/her head, an external contusion, or a bone fracture cannot be reported to the doctor.
In general, a remote medical service usually measures a care receiver's physiological parameters by various types of detection instruments, and sends the physiological parameters to a doctor's computer via Internet. The exchanging pictures of the care receiver and the doctor are taken by a webcam and sent to the computers of the doctor and the care receiver via Internet. The content of conversations between the care receiver and the doctor is transmitted by a network voice transceiver to the computer of the doctor and the care receiver via Internet. Therefore, the doctor can perform a diagnosis for the care receiver based on the physiological parameters, the pictures of the care receiver and the content of the conversation. However, the remote medical service is conducted while a conscious care receiver is having a conversation with the doctor. If the care receiver is at an unconscious condition, the care receiver is unable to initiate the remote medical service, and thus the remote medical service for such care receivers has its blind spot of application. As to an unconscious care receiver, the remote medical service provides no help at all.
Therefore, it is an important subject for researchers and manufacturers to find a way of using the existing low-price broadband network and very low equipment cost to design a remote home monitoring system and a method to overcome the shortcomings of the remote homecare or remote medical services. Particularly, if the activity behaviors of a care receiver can be recorded before and after the care receiver becomes unconscious for a quick review, it will be very helpful for doctors to perform diagnosis.